Competition
by Kristallnacht
Summary: A new girl's got Mulder's attention. Will Scully get him back? Future rating may change to M. This is my first story so please review.


Beep. Beep .Beep. Beep. It was her alarm. After searching the tabletop beside her bed for the snooze and failing to find it, she finally sat up on her bed. She looked at her alarm. It was 5 a.m. "What the hell…" she said to herself. She was an hour late on her schedule. She hurried herself to her office, managing to get there by 6 a.m. I have to have that report in by 8, she thought.

She went downstairs to the basement with quick steps and went opened the office door. She could hear conversation coming from her office. Mulder was already there…and so was a blonde young woman. He was sitting down, and she was leaning on Scully's desk. '_What is going on…_, she thought. Other agents usually didn't come into their office, especially not at this hour. She also didn't recognize this woman, but she wore a FBI name tag. She had just finished saying something and had a smile on her face, while Mulder chuckled. The woman's attention changed from Mulder to Scully.

Mulder finally noticed and looked up. "Oh hey, Scully." He looked at the blonde woman and gestured his hand. "Cindy, this is my partner." Then looking at Scully he added, "And this is Agent Cindy Morgan. She's new here."

Still confused and for some reason resentful, Scully replied with an "Oh." She managed to force a small smile so that she didn't seem rude. Since Scully had come in, the blonde woman had being studying her. Uneasy in the woman's presence, Scully approached her desk, stopped in front of the woman and looked up at her. The woman moved over, realizing that she was in her way.

"Well, I better get back to work. I'll see you around, Mulder," the woman said as she was leaving. She waved at him with a warm smile and then she gestured that she was leaving to Scully with one hand up and an uncaring expression that vaguely resembled a smile. As she left, Scully stared coldly at the woman. She noticed that Mulder was staring at her ass.

Scully took out the incomplete report, placed it on her desk and fed fresh paper into the typewriter. She started typing, eventually realizing that she wrote "the" consecutively three times. She put in a new sheet of paper again and started re-typing. Mulder was looking at Scully's tense facial expression with a smirk on his face. Scully sensed it.

"Your report's done?" she inquired, slightly annoyed.

"Yeah, I did it at home." He replied. "Why don't you do it on my computer?"

"Printer's out of ink."

Mulder kept rotating in his chair from one side to another and clicking his pen. The most exciting thing in the room was the occasional sigh that Scully let out and the way she raised one of her eyebrows when she concentrated on her work.

"You need help with that?"

"No." She never accepted help with any reports. However, this time she could have used it. She looked at the time. She had an hour left. She also used the opportunity to glance at Mulder. He was playing a game, fiercely clicking his mouse and shooting at the alien spaceships. Scully rolled her eyes and went back to work. After a few more sighs, she was finally done. Releasing a deep breath, Scully got up and went to Skinner's office. At the Secretary's desk, she asked Kim if Skinner was in his room. Kim nodded and told her to go right in. She walked up to the room and just as she was about to turn the knob, the door opened and the blonde woman walked out. They exchanged glances and walked their opposite ways. Scully walked into the room, handed in her report and walked out.

As she walked back to her room, she could only think about the blonde woman. She was about half a foot taller than Scully was, had strawberry blonde hair, icy blue eyes and long thin legs. Her lean curvy body and her feminine and seductive walk screamed the word lust.

When she came back to her office, she heard the blonde woman's voice again coming from inside.

"So you good for nine-thirty?"

"Yeah, if nothing comes up. But isn't that a little late for dinner?"

"Well, can you get off work any earlier?"

He sighed. "No, not really..."

Scully couldn't believe it. '_Mulder on a date? __How on earth did that happen? Maybe she misunderstood…'_ Her heart started to pound and it felt like it rose to her throat. The more she thought about it, the more she started to choke. She unintentionally started to cough.

Mulder and the blonde woman both noticed. The woman looked annoyed. "Well, my break's over. I better go," she lied and left. Now it was just Scully and Mulder.

She wanted to know, but was afraid to ask. Scully discreetly gulped her fear and finally decided to talk about it. "You've known her for a while?"

"Actually, no. We met yesterday while I was on my way home. She..uh..had blown a tire. I pulled over and helped her out. She told me she just moved here from Minnesota. It was only today when I saw her this morning that I realized that she moved here to work for the FBI. Apparently, she has family in the FBI and government. She's worked on a lot of strange cases, almost like the X-files…"

'_God, he couldn't shut up about her.' _"So…you two have plans for tonight." She looked at him to see his response.

"Yeah, we're…going to discuss a few things over dinner."

"Is it work-related?"

"Yes, I suppose." Then came what she had feared all along. Avoiding eye contact with her, he looked down at the floor and added, "It's more…kind of a date."

Scully's heart pounded so loud that she was sure that he could hear, but he just appeared as nervous as he did at the beginning of the conversation. Scully tried to absorb what she had just heard. It didn't sink in right away. She felt like she was about to cry, and she knew that Mulder could tell that revealing his plans hurt her. She tried to speak, but she only ended up mouthing the word, "Oh." She gulped, hoping to wet her dry mouth. "Have fun…" she finally managed to say. Mulder nodded almost regretfully.

Scully went into the morgue and spent the rest of her work hours there. She had been analyzing the body of a woman who claimed to have an electrostatic field around her. The work was complicated, redundant and boring. It annoyed her. But the situation with Cindy and Mulder annoyed her much more. In fact, it threw her in rage. '_How could he! After all the years that they spent together...After all the intimateemotional moments that they had…How could he hurt me like this? That bitch! She just came in out of nowhere and took him from me. What does she have that I don't?' _She heard the rational Scully reasoning with her: _'Well…She's beautiful…'_

'_But I'm beautiful too, aren't I?'_

'_She's sexy. You're uptight. You had all the opportunities in the world to get him. He cares about you. He's always saving your ass. He's always there for you. Maybe he even loves you. '_

'_Why would he do this to me if he loves me? He only loves me as a friend.'_

'_She asked. You never did. It's not her fault and it's not his. You had years to take him. It's all your fault. You deserve this, Scully.' _And she believed it. She could only blame herself.

She went back to the office to collect her things and head home. Mulder was busy doing some paperwork, but he noticed when his partner entered the office. "Scully…" he said, "Is everything ok?", knowing perfectly that something was wrong.

"Yeah. Just a tough day," Scully managed to give a soft self-assured smile. She was good at hiding her feelings if she really wanted to. And with a "See you tomorrow" she was out. Mulder was still looking at the empty doorway, twirling his pen in the air.

Scully drove back home with thoughts racing in her head and emotions dwelling in her heart. She loved him more than anything else. Nothing else could be more important to her than Mulder. There had been a point when she tried to deny it. She would be doing something, and she'd find herself thinking about him. She'd try to block it out, but those dreamy puppy dog eyes would implant its grasp in her head. Sometimes she'd wonder how those full lips of his would feel on hers. She let herself to fantasize about it, so that she could finally rid herself of her curiosity. But the kiss that she had imagined was soft and warm. She wanted more, and the wetness of their tongues in each others mouth was enthralling. By then, he had found his way into her heart and soul. She loved him, and it frightened her. He was her partner, and she knew that it was professionally wrong. And he was always into his work. Until now, she didn't even realize that he was capable of getting into a relationship. Now he was, with someone else. The thought filled her eyes with jealousy and her heart with pain.

'Pull yourself together, Scully.' But she couldn't do it alone. She stopped at the bar, and got herself a few drinks. She gulped down her first and second glass down quickly, wanting the effect as soon as possible. Within a few seconds, it was starting to hit her. She was about to order another glass when her phone rang. After fiddling with it to open it, she finally answered.

"Hell-oo…?" she said quietly and sluggishly, although she meant to sound sober.

"Hey, Scully. It's me…Are you—Are you drunk?" he asked, concerned.

"Whaa…Noo..I'm—I'm busy…"

"Scually, where are you?"

"At--At Pete's..uh..bar." She put her head down on the counter and unknowingly breathed into the phone.

Mulder listened for a couple of seconds before hanging up.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. She opened her eyes and tried to look up, but it was all a blur. Everything in the room was spinning. She realized that she had fallen asleep. She couldn't see him, but she could her his voice. "C'mon Scully. I'll take you home."

He had put her arms around his waist and she was leaning on the side of his chest. She was half-walking and half being dragged. She was strapped into his car, but her head was still slightly falling over the belt. She felt his hand positioning her back on the seat and pushing back the hair in her face. She felt ashamed that he had to see her like this, vulnerable and pathetic. She managed to whisper "I'm sorry." She felt him squeeze her hand for a moment, before starting the car.

She felt herself being lifted off the seat and carried. She opened her eyes. She had fallen asleep again. She looked beside her and saw Mulder's chest. She was starting to feel a little bit more sober. Her orientation was coming back to her. She looked up, slowly and saw the moonlight outlining his beautiful face. '_A true knight'_, she thought in awe.

He set her down on her sofa and sat beside her. She looked up at him, sorry that she had to put him through the trouble. Then she remembered his plans. "Mulder, aren't you supposed to be with Cindy?"

"Yeah…but I cancelled." There was a silence as he continued to watch his partner's face. He linked his hands with hers, with his thumb stroking her fingers. He then sighed and leaned down to embrace her. She had desperately yearned for his warmth, and now she had it. She savoured this warmth, of his body touching hers. She wanted it to never go away, but she knew that it would. Without realizing it, she was squeezing his hand. He was squeezing back. "Why'd you do that?" she questioned with a whisper, wanting to know for sure.

He whispered back softly, "Because I love you."


End file.
